Death, taxes, and outrage when the yearly National Baseball Hall of Fame ballots are released. But this year’s uproar was particularly venomous from Detroit Tigers fans, who on the one hand were thrilled to see beloved former shortstop Alan Trammell get another shot at induction, but were simultaneously livid that his double-play partner, second baseman Lou Whitaker, was not included on the Modern Baseball Era ballot that was released on Monday.

Both Trammell and Jack Morris were among the list of ten names which will be voted on by a 16-person committee at this year’s MLB Winter Meetings next month, but the 60-year-old Whitaker was a glaring omission. There was little by way of an explanation in the days that followed (The Detroit News tracked down several members of the committee, most of whom declined to give a firm reason), so we at The Athletic set out to gain some insight into the perceived slight.